Rule Forty Two: The Self-Aggrandizing Website of Gavin Edwards

A few years back, I discovered gold in my garage: three videotapes containing the 1988 year-end countdown on MTV. Since then, I’ve been working my way through the top 100 videos of that year, plus the commercials, the VJ breaks, and the cool animated snippets. The sixth batch of videos (not exactly “the sixth hour,” because the animated barking-dog break at the top of the hour came before the Belinda Carlisle clip):

3 Comments on 1988 Countdown: #41-50 Roundup

That’s probably the baggiest, randomest 10 of the 100 so far, and even though I like many of the artists/songs in question, I must say it’s not a list of all-time highlights. At the very least, except for the first-rate “Faith” (which should’ve been higher) and maybe “Groovy” none of these has lingered as a radio gold standard. (I do love “Tall Cool One,” but when’s the last time you heard that at the supermarket or even at a bar?)

You do have to remember, for one, that “Faith” was a late ’87 holdover, and as a result, would end up at a lower spot.

And at this point we’re still mostly beneath the really big ones. (“Beds Are Burning” coming in at #69 was an anomaly; it was still a bit of a grower at the time before it would make any All Time lists on the channel.) The top 40 will have a lot more MTV long-runners; believe it.